Unprepared for all this preparation...
02-17
10:05am
I ripped my jacket pa-retty bad in the front on the way out today. I am not even sure how it occurred, I was checking for my keys in my pocket and I felt like some velcro latch had just undone.
Last I checked... I wasn't Superman, and so I can only conclude the jacket had worn down before that point. As a result, it is new jacket time. I had aspired to get a new jacket, actually, at the start of last semester but... didn't. My jacket worked fine, I said, even if it was getting a bit worn.
Well, now it works... mostly fine, and looks quite worn. I will have to wash out my Fallout lunch box (which is housing a collection of pens, pencils, erasers, and various drawing devices)... and fold my quest for the perfect lunch box in favor of the quest for a decent jacket.
In other Marc-related news, I had a couple of bad dreams last night, woke up at around 5:30, fell back to sleep around 7:30, and all in all had a pretty rough night for no particular reason.
Oh well! I'm surviving!
===
10:50am
Woo. Feeling the fatigue of a bad night's sleep.
Calgon, take me away!
===
11:30am
So, in the same article as saying "You also couldn't find a photo of it to save your life." about a floating island of garbage that congregated in the Pacific... they have a video with no photo of said 'island' ... though perhaps I am imagining something more... substantial?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/16/vbs.toxic.garbage.island/index.html?hpt=C1
Anyway, even still, the tides taking trash to once place is pretty sad. The toxicity of the water in the area is sad, too.
Moral of the story: Even if we don't have a toxic Garbage Island, don't throw your garbage in the ocean.
===
1:40pm
I am ready to throw the new PeopleSoft update out the window
I'm entering the item type, which I know, and it is interrupting my typing midway to search for partial matches.
It is seriously slowing me down and making me very annoyed.
===
NOTE: I didn't update the rest of the day. I got distracted by going through scholarship issues from the Foundation (most of which weren't issues, I'm happy to say) ... anyway, I saved it to continue today!
===
02-18
11:00am
I had the hardest time getting up today. Not because I got too little sleep, but because of (insert giant question mark here)...
Oh well.
===
11:20am
Going through messages cuz I was out for a week.
Every time I do this, it is painful. Despite the message saying "If you have a question about loans, grants, your FAFSA, or any other financial aid question, please contact Financial Aid at (phone number)" ... half of the messages are about financial aid.
===
11:40am
Stupid phone day:
MARC: Scholarship services, this is Marc!
PARENT: My daughter just got a letter from (obscure organization), are you familiar with them?
MARC: No, I'm sorry.
PARENT: Oh I just want to know if they are legit or not.
MARC: I'm sorry, this is the 1st I've heard of them. Are they offering you a scholarship?
PARENT: No, my daughter just got a letter from them about joining their organization, it mentioned NIU so I figured I'd call you.
MARC: Oh, okay.
PARENT: How would I go about finding if they are a legitemate organization?
MARC: Well, I'd probably search the internet for complaints or warnings, or perhaps contact the organization directly and get a feel for them?
PARENT: Is there anyone who knows about all these different things there?
MARC: I'm not sure that there is, sorry, unfortunately the number of outside organizations is somewhat prohibitive to knowing them all.
PARENT: Okay! thanks, bye.
Who knows, maybe in some distant, far off way, determining if an organization who sent someone a letter is legitemate is related to scholarships? Or to the university?
I also hate when you try to get more information and they don't have the letter they are calling about. Seriously? Why call someone if you don't have the very thing you want information on, or that may help me to help you?
Anyway, this isn't the 1st time this has happened, I had someone call me to see if some local day camp was legitemate or not because it mentioned it was near NIU.
===
12:40pm
So sleepy!
I think this sickness still has me pretty drained.
Anyway. Updated the Foundation on 'outstanding issues'...
===
1:20pm
So, I've been making awards for two years, and working with scholarships and aid for about 3.
I make mistakes from time to time, but it really bothers me when someone assumes I'm wrong without checking. It doesn't happen often, but I suspect one counselor isn't particularly keen on me... and today she had an issue referred to her about loans (which didn't even matter because the student had declined their loans) ... and I had adjusted the student's loans in September because they were at cost of attendance when the award was made.
So, without checking, they assumed I was wrong and asked "Why I did that?" ... only to find, surprise surprise, he declined awards after the scholarship was put on, and his MAP and Pell were adjusted because of part time status his final semester...
*sigh*
FFS. I've been doing this long enough and a large enough percentage of them have been done by my hand this year (60-70%)... that... don't you think if I was THAT inept... there would be major problems?
I think I need to be kept away from people today, and I need to get more sleep until I am better.
===
2:20pm
You know what's creepy? Bathroom lurkers.
They go in, wash their hands, then stair at themselves in the mirror, or pace a little bit like they are trying to decide what to do next.
Today's creepy lurker? A guy who came in and was washing his whole arms and rinsing his beard after pacing for half a minute.
===
2:30pm
I don't know what else to do.
Back checking is done, billing is done for Evans, reconciling is done and double checked by Betsy, ROTC is on and the sheets in the binder...
Clean my desk, maybe?
===
2:55pm
Huh. Okay, posting this. Time to go!
10:05am
I ripped my jacket pa-retty bad in the front on the way out today. I am not even sure how it occurred, I was checking for my keys in my pocket and I felt like some velcro latch had just undone.
Last I checked... I wasn't Superman, and so I can only conclude the jacket had worn down before that point. As a result, it is new jacket time. I had aspired to get a new jacket, actually, at the start of last semester but... didn't. My jacket worked fine, I said, even if it was getting a bit worn.
Well, now it works... mostly fine, and looks quite worn. I will have to wash out my Fallout lunch box (which is housing a collection of pens, pencils, erasers, and various drawing devices)... and fold my quest for the perfect lunch box in favor of the quest for a decent jacket.
In other Marc-related news, I had a couple of bad dreams last night, woke up at around 5:30, fell back to sleep around 7:30, and all in all had a pretty rough night for no particular reason.
Oh well! I'm surviving!
===
10:50am
Woo. Feeling the fatigue of a bad night's sleep.
Calgon, take me away!
===
11:30am
So, in the same article as saying "You also couldn't find a photo of it to save your life." about a floating island of garbage that congregated in the Pacific... they have a video with no photo of said 'island' ... though perhaps I am imagining something more... substantial?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/16/vbs.toxic.garbage.island/index.html?hpt=C1
Anyway, even still, the tides taking trash to once place is pretty sad. The toxicity of the water in the area is sad, too.
Moral of the story: Even if we don't have a toxic Garbage Island, don't throw your garbage in the ocean.
===
1:40pm
I am ready to throw the new PeopleSoft update out the window
I'm entering the item type, which I know, and it is interrupting my typing midway to search for partial matches.
It is seriously slowing me down and making me very annoyed.
===
NOTE: I didn't update the rest of the day. I got distracted by going through scholarship issues from the Foundation (most of which weren't issues, I'm happy to say) ... anyway, I saved it to continue today!
===
02-18
11:00am
I had the hardest time getting up today. Not because I got too little sleep, but because of (insert giant question mark here)...
Oh well.
===
11:20am
Going through messages cuz I was out for a week.
Every time I do this, it is painful. Despite the message saying "If you have a question about loans, grants, your FAFSA, or any other financial aid question, please contact Financial Aid at (phone number)" ... half of the messages are about financial aid.
===
11:40am
Stupid phone day:
MARC: Scholarship services, this is Marc!
PARENT: My daughter just got a letter from (obscure organization), are you familiar with them?
MARC: No, I'm sorry.
PARENT: Oh I just want to know if they are legit or not.
MARC: I'm sorry, this is the 1st I've heard of them. Are they offering you a scholarship?
PARENT: No, my daughter just got a letter from them about joining their organization, it mentioned NIU so I figured I'd call you.
MARC: Oh, okay.
PARENT: How would I go about finding if they are a legitemate organization?
MARC: Well, I'd probably search the internet for complaints or warnings, or perhaps contact the organization directly and get a feel for them?
PARENT: Is there anyone who knows about all these different things there?
MARC: I'm not sure that there is, sorry, unfortunately the number of outside organizations is somewhat prohibitive to knowing them all.
PARENT: Okay! thanks, bye.
Who knows, maybe in some distant, far off way, determining if an organization who sent someone a letter is legitemate is related to scholarships? Or to the university?
I also hate when you try to get more information and they don't have the letter they are calling about. Seriously? Why call someone if you don't have the very thing you want information on, or that may help me to help you?
Anyway, this isn't the 1st time this has happened, I had someone call me to see if some local day camp was legitemate or not because it mentioned it was near NIU.
===
12:40pm
So sleepy!
I think this sickness still has me pretty drained.
Anyway. Updated the Foundation on 'outstanding issues'...
===
1:20pm
So, I've been making awards for two years, and working with scholarships and aid for about 3.
I make mistakes from time to time, but it really bothers me when someone assumes I'm wrong without checking. It doesn't happen often, but I suspect one counselor isn't particularly keen on me... and today she had an issue referred to her about loans (which didn't even matter because the student had declined their loans) ... and I had adjusted the student's loans in September because they were at cost of attendance when the award was made.
So, without checking, they assumed I was wrong and asked "Why I did that?" ... only to find, surprise surprise, he declined awards after the scholarship was put on, and his MAP and Pell were adjusted because of part time status his final semester...
*sigh*
FFS. I've been doing this long enough and a large enough percentage of them have been done by my hand this year (60-70%)... that... don't you think if I was THAT inept... there would be major problems?
I think I need to be kept away from people today, and I need to get more sleep until I am better.
===
2:20pm
You know what's creepy? Bathroom lurkers.
They go in, wash their hands, then stair at themselves in the mirror, or pace a little bit like they are trying to decide what to do next.
Today's creepy lurker? A guy who came in and was washing his whole arms and rinsing his beard after pacing for half a minute.
===
2:30pm
I don't know what else to do.
Back checking is done, billing is done for Evans, reconciling is done and double checked by Betsy, ROTC is on and the sheets in the binder...
Clean my desk, maybe?
===
2:55pm
Huh. Okay, posting this. Time to go!